the unlucky timepiece
by sorceress-alanna
Summary: when sherlock and john are called to what seems a normal homicide, a new enemy emerges into their lives, and his first move; to kidnap mrs hudson. post reichenbach
1. Sherlock discovers

It was nearing two months since Sherlock Holmes had reappeared on John's doorstep, and it was starting to feel like they were back to normal, things would never be exactly the same, each would forever carry their own scars from their time apart, but they were almost whole again.

John had been coming on cases again for a couple of weeks, he was thinking about moving back into baker street, and he was even starting to forgive Sherlock, at least, he no longer wanted to punch him the entire time he could see his face.

Sherlock had woken up to a text from Lestrade informing him of a murder halfway across London that he thought could use his expertise, so John had woken up to a text from Sherlock seeing if he wanted to help, he fired off a quick reply, and, groaning, began to rise.

It was 7am when they arrived at the scene, and John could see immediately why Sherlock had been called. The victim was lying on their back on the pavement (though a forensics tent had been erected around the site as it was a fairly public area). It was a slim man of about 20, of average height with a handsome face and brown hair in disarray. He was dressed in a suit, but his jacket was thrown open with the front of his shirt in tatters on the ground and a huge S carved into his torso, the cause of death was obvious, a bullet wound in the middle of his forehead.

Sherlock instantly began flitting around the crime scene with his mini magnifier, Lestrade began outlining the details in the background 'Ethan Jones, 23, killed at about 6, found at half past by' when Sherlock stood up, and ran full pelt away from the crime scene to the nearest main road, John, of course, leapt into action after him, giving a placating look to an exasperated Lestrade over his shoulder.

Sherlock was waiting with a taxi; john leapt inside, and experienced a sudden moment of doubt and confusion as Sherlock said '221b Baker Street, fast as you can'. John looked at Sherlock, who simply started deducing about the murder victim "the angle of the wound tells me he was shot from the third window to the left of the first floor of the building opposite the body, the killer will have been too clever to leave much evidence, the size of the bullet and the impact speed shows he used an American sniper rifle, the fact it hit dead centre of the forehead shows the killer was an experienced gunman, ex military, probably a man, and a person more engaged by practicalities than theatrics. The cut was made with a partly serrated hunting knife minutes after death, the cut is completely straight, no sign of shaking so the death had no emotional attachment and induced no pleasure. Now why would you kill a person who means nothing to you and then mutilate the body, unless that was the point' he looked at john, expecting comprehension, seeing a blank look he sighed slightly in mock disappointment and finished 'Ethan Jones was only killed to lure me away from the flat.'

As Sherlock finished, a deathly pallor crept over John's face as his brain caught up, and he found himself willing the car to move faster. They sped towards the flat. Sherlock just sat there, irritatingly calm as ever, john becoming more and more flustered as time went by.

Finally, just as john thought he could bear it no longer, the taxi pulled up outside the flat. Sherlock of course jumped straight out and up to the door, leaving john to pay the taxi driver, which he did in what was probably a Guinness world record, before running in himself and leaping up the stairs three at a time, only to crash into Sherlock halfway up who was trying to run down them.

Sherlock got up, leapt over john with a complete disregard for the fact he was going to break his neck doing so, and rushed into Mrs. Hudson's flat. Realising why Sherlock would want to go in there, john hurtled down the steps after him, and was stopped dead at the entrance to Mrs. Hudson's flat by the sight of Sherlock kneeling down in front of an hourglass on the coffee table, with a card laid on top.

Sherlock crouched down and began studying the offending objects, taking in every detail. The hourglass was placed down 48 minutes ago, there are no fingerprints on either the hourglass or the card, the card was pure black with a red number 13 on one side, but no other marking. Printed by a business card manufacturer judging by the thickness and the quality. The hourglass was a simple design with a mahogany base and top, and four struts at the corners. The hourglass itself was an almost perfect figure of eight design. The wood was unmarked, but polished, and the card was resting on the very centre of the top of the structure, with the red 13 seemingly glaring up at them. He remarked out loud to john "it was the same person who killed the man that organised this, look at the simple design of the hourglass, and the absolutely central position of the card, definitely a very structured mind, simple but structured" john sighed at this and rolled his eyes, only Sherlock would make derogatory comments to a killer who wasn't even here.

Having made his deductions he rose and looked more closely around the rest of the room, eyes intently focused for any detail out of place. John was well used to this process and just let him get on with it, still trying to come to terms with the fact that Mrs. Hudson was gone.

Just as john could tell that Sherlock was nearing the end of his investigative process, they heard a key turn in the front door, john leapt towards the door, praying for Mrs. Hudson to breeze in and tell them off for something as usual. The door swung open to reveal a girl of about 18 with short loose brown hair, jeans tucked into below knee high brown boots, a plain black t-shirt, and a red coat hanging open. She had an iPod in her ears and was singing a Spanish pop song by the sound of it. She took a step in, and stopped, noticing john in front of her. She smiled at him and said cheerfully

'hi john, I'm back for the holidays, come to see auntie have you. Wow you look great, have you got a new girlfriend' john made no response, just stared at her mimicking a fish, and the smile dropped from her face. 'John what's wrong.' Then Sherlock stepped out of the doorway, her eyes slid to his face, and she gaped. John finally found his voice, 'Ella meet Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock this is Ella Johnson, Mrs. Hudson's niece'.


	2. Introductions

Chapter Two

The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds, Sherlock's eyes moved over her body, focusing on certain points as he deduced one thing or another from her appearance, (marks around the wrist where gloves are frequently used, age means university, doing sciences, two small punctures in her shirt on the left side said she wore a nametag often, job in a shop, automatic posture means martial art from a young age, developed fingers means musical instrument etc) Ella just stared at him, her head tilted slightly to one side, eyes narrowed.

John, sensing that they needed to establish a pecking, order cleared his throat and said 'milk, we need milk. Err I'll go get some, and I'll have to ring Lestrade.' he opened the door and paused, adding 'be nice' over his shoulder. Ella and Sherlock looked at each other as if they weren't entirely sure which one of them was being addressed.

Ella was the first one to break the standoff, she took a few steps forward, hand slightly outstretched as if to shake Sherlock's hand, Sherlock's looked down at her hand once in a dismissive gesture, and at that moment, her other hand swung round, and punched him in the face, Sherlock had managed to reflexively roll slightly, so she didn't catch his nose, but it still hurt.

Sherlock fell backwards, dazed, as she looked down at him and said in a threatening tone. 'ok, now that's taken care of, what has happened to my aunt, and what have you got to do with it.' Sherlock looked up at her with mild surprise, and she just raised her eyebrows at him, demanding answers. When none were forthcoming she marched over him and in through the open door to Mrs. Hudson's flat.

Sherlock got up and followed her, being significantly more cautious than before, and found her on her knees before the hourglass. Sherlock simply studied her from behind. She got up slowly, and turned to face him. 'we each want information, how do you want to play this, three questions each, in turns?' Sherlock nodded, and at the exact same moment both of them stated the first question;

'what is your connection to john'

'why did you say what you did to john on the rooftop'

They both stopped and glared at each other. Ella sighed, recognising she could either back down, or never get any answers and said 'I met john 6 months after your "death", I had just become an orphan, and my aunt had taken me in, I moved into 221c. John had long since moved out of course, but my aunt started taking me places, trying to get me to be sociable, I wasn't complying. Then she visited john one day, and dragged me along too. The moment I saw him, I found a kindred spirit, we had both lost our worlds in an instant, he was in a bad way, almost everyone he was close to reminded him of you, and you were a subject he could not deal with. I was determined to hear him laugh again; it took me almost a year, and a big argument with not-anthea. The first six months after I met him, we got to know each other, and each other's pain, and I got to know you, through him. He told me almost everything about you, I was a vessel for him to relive the good moments, through untainted eyes as it were, giggling at crime scenes and "meeting the queen". It took me another three months to find out why he was so broken up, and begin to fix it, you really did a number on his psyche. I'm not going to say it was all me, nowhere near, but I think I truly did help his recovery somewhat, it formed a bond, as you can imagine.'

There was a pause before ' my turn, why did you say what you did to john on the rooftop? That's what really did him in, because it wasn't just ordinary grief, no matter how much he denied it, there was always a niggling doubt in the back of his mind, why would Sherlock lie to me in his final moments? It tainted all his memories of you, so, answers.'

Before either of them could continue, they heard john coming in the door, and quickly stopped, turning towards the sound.

John entered the room to find both people looking at him and a faintly hostile element in the atmosphere. 'john, when's Lestrade getting here.' John was still trying to work out what had been going on 'couple of minutes, they assumed you were done at the crime scene' Sherlock had begun pacing 'hmm, oh he doesn't matter'.

John glared at him in disapproval, and quickly turned to Ella, who had sat down on the couch, and had a vacant air about her. 'you alrite' he asked softly, Sherlock glanced at him, a withering remark on his lips, when he saw john in front of Ella he sighed in exasperation of his flatmates sentimentality and turned away. Ella seemed to come back to the present and focused on him 'no, but I will be, you're going to get her back' she said with conviction

John smiled at her, and the doorbell rang. John, who looked to Sherlock and deduced he was, as usual, not about to do anything remotely helpful, got up and went to let Lestrade in.

Ella took advantage of john's momentary absence to remark to Sherlock, 'I expect an answer soon Sherlock Holmes' and added her phone number as a means of doing this, since both knew it was unlikely they would be able to talk privately in the near future. Then Scotland Yard barged in.


	3. Ella vs Sally

Lestrade came in, making for the stairs before seeing Sherlock in Mrs. Hudson's flat, and changing course. He was flanked by Anderson and Donovan, who remarked a simple 'freak' to Sherlock as anyone else would have said his name.

Sherlock didn't even notice, as wrapped up in his deductions as he was, john simply frowned, but Ella stood up, and walked over to stand in front of Donovan. 'apologise' Donovan reflexively said 'I'm sorry?' as an alternative to what, but Ella smiled at her and said 'that'll do' and turned away. Sally Donovan, who's brain had just worked out what was going on called after her 'no, that wasn't an apology, why should I apologise to him.'

Ella stopped dead and muttered something that could have been 'typical' under her breath, before turning back to sally.

'why do you insult him?'

'what?'

'why do you insult him?'

Sally looked straight at Sherlock and remarked 'because he's a psychopath'

'his behaviour is not amoral, and he feels love. Although I admit he is quite egocentric, how is he a psychopath?'

'how does he feel love?'

Ella sighed in exasperation ' he feels love for his work, and for john'

Sally sneered at Sherlock in sadistic glee 'I knew it'

Ella frowned sharply at Donovan, and raised her voice 'do not deliberately misunderstand me, I had assumed you were a grown woman, and beyond the stage of "Sherlock loves john"(this was delivered in the sing song tone of children the world over). John is his flatmate and his best friend, he's practically a brother, of course Sherlock loves him, that does not mean that he is in love with him. He is not a psychopath, why do you insult him'

'he's a sociopath, admitted it, like he's proud of it'

'he's an idiot. At the time I suppose it was debatable, but not now. He is not unaware of normal social practices; in fact even in my extremely limited experience it seems that he is very frequently reminded. He just forgets to apply them quite a lot, and he is not lacking a moral compass or a social conscience, they just took over three decades to develop. Ask Lestrade what he did when he hurt molly's feelings one Christmas. He is not a sociopath. Why do you insult him?'

Sally had obviously had enough of this argument 'because hes a freak'

'why?'

'because of what he can do'

Ella gave a small smile as her endgame began to coalesce. 'our abilities do not define us. What we choose to do shows much more of our soul than we realise. He was not born able to find a murder within 10 seconds. He was born a genius, but at some point he had to learn all the skills he puts into his work, he will have made a choice during his lifetime to become a detective, to save peoples lives, and find killers'

Sally interrupted, affronted at this portrayal of Sherlock 'don't make him out as some knight in shining armour, he doesn't do it for the good in it, he just wants to show off, prove he's cleverer than everyone else, and one day he'll go bad'

This was beginning to turn into more of a proper argument than the debate it had started as 'he got my aunt kidnapped remember, I am under no illusions as to the dangers of associating with him, but it was still his choice to be on your side, and judging by the evidence I'm not sure id have done the same. Do you not think he could get just as much mental challenge from the dark side, be able to prove he's clever the other way around, but creating unsolvable murders, but he stays here. He will never turn bad now, he has people who care, and they will keep him more or less on the straight and narrow, whereas what do you choose, petty insult and ineffective barbs, just because you don't like him. You're a policewoman, a custodian of law and order, I'm pretty sure that casual cruelty for a personal dislike is not part of your job description'

'Sherlock does nothing but insult people'

'Oh, so a moment ago, he was the psychopath, the sociopath, and then the freak, but now anything he does is ok for you to do too?'

Sally Donovan had run out of retorts

Ella breathed out and took slight pity on the sergeant in front of her ' I'm not asking you like him, I'm not even asking you to talk to him, do what everyone else does and work through john, but stop with the freak. It doesn't even mean anything to him anymore; he sees it as an acknowledgement, every time you say that he hears that you cannot do what he does, so he is cleverer than you. Don't give him the satisfaction; just get on with your job, properly.'

Ella looked up, and noticed the entire room of forensics, Sherlock and John were staring at her. She gave the forensics team a withering glance, causing more than one to duck their heads, either in guilt or to avoid incurring her wrath on them.

Suddenly she seemed to be aware of the situation once more, and looking round the flat felt tears form. 'john, do you mind if I go in yours for a bit, I can't stay in here, and my place is just as bad, it's full of photo's. John blinked once and said 'sure, go right up' Ella nodded in thanks, and walked out of the room quickly. Lestrade caused the return to normality 'back to work, shows over'.


End file.
